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The Portland Press Herald wrote an in-depth article on Robert Plant & Alison Krauss drummer Jay Bellerose. Jay is a very accomplished drummer and whether you are familiar with Jay or not, this will shed light on his extensive career.
Below is an excerpt from that article:
Drummer Jay Bellerose has recorded and performed with dozens of accomplished musicians, including Paula Cole, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, John Mellencamp, Aimee Mann, Regina Spektor and Ray LaMontagne.
In concert photos, the Old Orchard Beach native is often seen near the back of the stage, partially obscured by the other players. He’s the drummer, and somebody else is the headliner. But the musicians who want to play with him, who keep him in constant demand and rely on his artistry and vision, don’t talk about him as somebody simply backing them up.
“I can’t express properly here how important he is to me, how much I love him. Jay is one of my influences, right there with Aretha Franklin or Joni Mitchell,” said Cole, who has been recording and performing with Bellerose for more than 30 years. “And now I see so many derivatives of Jay in the drummer world. He is an original, an influence to so many, including me.”
Bellerose, 56, is now based in Los Angeles, but will be coming home to Maine this summer. He’s currently on tour with Robert Plant and Alison Krauss and will be on stage for the duo’s sold-out show July 3 at Thompson’s Point in Portland. At least three dozen friends and family members are planning to attend the show.
Bellerose says he first became fascinated with the drums because his older brother, Nelson, played. There’s a family photo of Bellerose as a toddler, about 10 months old, sitting at his brother’s drum set and holding sticks in his hand.
“I don’t remember that, but I still have that picture,” said Bellerose, from his home in North Hollywood, California. “I just know that drumming and music overtook every part of my being, for better or for worse. I’ve never looked at it as a career, a way to make money, there are easier ways to make money. The power music has over me on a spiritual, soulful level has kept me on this path and brought me so much joy.”
Jay Bellerose on his brother’s drums in Old Orchard Beach, about 10 months old. Photo courtesy of the Bellerose family.
Nelson Bellerose, about 18 years older than his brother, remembers the day of the photo very clearly. Bellerose crawled over to his brother’s drums and pulled himself up onto them. When Nelson handed his brother the sticks, he expected the toddler to grab them stiffly, but he instead held them loose, like a seasoned drummer. When Jay hit the drums with a stick, it made a musical sound, not the thump most first-timer drummers make.
Bellerose, the youngest of eight children, said he “worshipped” his drumming brother, followed him around and listened to the music he listened to, ranging from rock and pop to jazz and big band. He also paid really close attention to any drummers he saw on TV, including one named Paul Humphrey, who was on “The Lawrence Welk Show” (he watched with his mom) and who also had played with Marvin Gaye. He got to hear a huge variety of music just walking into any of his siblings’ rooms and hearing whatever they were into. When he was old enough to buy music on his own, he became very drawn to classical recordings.
Nelson played in bands in the area, and as a teen, Jay would follow him to gigs at local clubs around Old Orchard Beach. Sometimes the band of grownups would let the much younger Bellerose sit in with them. At home, Bellerose said, he was encouraged to practice as much as he wanted to.
“Sometimes I’d be playing and not know my mother was having tea with somebody, and they’d say to her, ‘How do you put up with this racket?’” Bellerose said. “But she always told me that when she heard me playing drums, she knew I was safe and was doing something I loved.”
At Old Orchard Beach High School, he joined school bands and earned some national attention. He was selected as a member of the McDonald’s All-American High School Band that marched in the 1985 Tournament of Roses Parade and won a scholarship given out by Modern Drummer magazine. He credits his band director at Old Orchard Beach High School, Paula Remick Vargas, with encouraging him and supporting his ambition. He stays in touch with her and visited with her in Florida earlier this year.
Red the full article: HERE
